Astrid Erb

Tim Chase

IVL World Lit

10 November 2017

Character Building Using Supporting Characters

Sometimes a fully-formed character will walk into an author’s head, but usually it is not as easy as that. Most authors perform some form of brainstorming for each character before sitting down to write about them, especially the main character, but a huge piece of the character development happens within the story. A large part of this is usually through the other characters. For example, the author of Sold defines Lakshmi through her interactions with her mother, her stepfather, and the villain Mumtaz.

Lakshmi’s mother and her baby brother are the members of her family that she really cares about, and they do a large part in helping to show the reader what life is like for Lakshmi and how she reacts to it. Lakshmi’s mother, or her Ama, instills a strong connection in Lakshmi to her home, because her mother is someone whom she loves and looks up to. Through hard times, Lakshmi and her mother are there for each other, keeping the other strong with their imaginations and Ama’s assurances. For her mother and her baby brother, the sixth child of her mother and only the second living one, Lakshmi is willing to travel far away to a new and frightening place to earn money that she can send back to them. “Simply to endure,” Lakshmi’s mother says, “is to triumph”, and through the even harder times that face her, Lakshmi remembers these words and stays strong for her mother.

Lakshmi’s stepfather means much less to her and is presented as a villain in the story, but this does not lessen his impact on Lakshmi’s character. Her stepfather is selfish and greedy, caring only about himself, and any kindness he may have held has been drained out by his gambling addiction. Lakshmi overhears him and the other gambling men in conversation, saying, “... a girl is like a goat. Good as long as she gives milk and butter. But not worth crying over when it is time to make a stew.” Lakshmi knows that to her stepfather, she is nothing but another asset for his own self-gain, and this drives her to want to prove her worth, strengthening her resolve to find work in the city and help her family. Through her stepfather, the reader is also shown that Lakshmi has a kind heart, when in her imaginings she includes, though grudgingly, a new vest for him.

Later on in the story, after Lakshmi has already left home, she meets Mumtaz, a huge influence to the plot and to Lakshmi as a character. Mumtaz runs the brothel that Lakshmi is unknowingly sold to, and she has no plans to let Lakshmi leave while she can use her to gain money. She heaps more and more debts on Lakshmi, so many that she has no hope of paying them all off, but while many girls would give up in this situation, Lakshmi resolves to keep going. Mumtaz tries her hardest to crush Lakshmi’s spirit, but Lakshmi will not let her, and this gives the reader insight into her character. Even with Lakshmi’s strong resolve to live through this horrible experience, she cannot escape on her own because Mumtaz is a force to be reckoned with.

Lakshmi is the main character in the book Sold, but the story would not progress without the help of the characters that support and build her. Lakshmi’s mother, her stepfather, and Mumtaz all play integral parts in Lakshmi’s own development, and the story would not be engaging or interesting to read without them, because there would be no conflict. Without supporting characters, the main character would be nothing.